Alford man dies in canoeing accident on Housatonic River in Stockbridge

STOCKBRIDGE (AP) — Police say an Alford man has died in a canoeing accident on the Housatonic River in Stockbridge.

Rupert Norris Vonbockbrader of Alford was in a canoe that tipped over at about 2 a.m. Saturday.

At least 60 public safety officials from a number of Berkshire County towns, state police and environmental police participated in the search, until the 21-year-old Vonbockbrader’s body was spotted not far from where he went missing just before noon.

A 25-year-old man who was in the same canoe as Vonbockbrader was treated at a Pittsfield hospital for exposure and hypothermia.

Stockbridge Police Chief Richard Wilcox tells The Berkshire Eagle that the death was “tragic.”